IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 |
(music playing)
| | 00:04 |
Hi! I'm Morten Rand-Hendricksen, and welcome
to Blogging for Business.
| | 00:07 |
This course is designed to help you
prepare for, plan, and develop a strategy
| | 00:12 |
for creating a blog to promote and
support a business.
| | 00:16 |
Blogging can be a useful tool in the
marketing strategy of any business.
| | 00:21 |
And done right, it can also become a
meeting point between the business.
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And it's customers.
Throughout the course, we'll go through
| | 00:29 |
five stages that will help you lay the
groundwork to get from the idea of a
| | 00:33 |
business blog.
To an actual live and functioning blog or
| | 00:37 |
take another look at your existing blog
to make it more effective.
| | 00:41 |
First, we'll look at how to define goals
and expectations and establish a timeline
| | 00:46 |
to meet these goals.
Then we'll discuss strategy both for
| | 00:51 |
content creation and marketing and how to
measures success.
| | 00:55 |
We'll look at technology choices and how
these affect our blog and could be used
| | 00:59 |
to further its functionality.
We'll take a deep dive into content creation.
| | 01:04 |
And look at how to manage a blog, and
produce quality content by leveraging the
| | 01:09 |
brain trust in your company.
And finally, we'll look at how to
| | 01:12 |
incorporate an existing corporate
identity, and plan the publication of the blog.
| | 01:19 |
A business blog can be a powerful
addition to your online marketing package.
| | 01:23 |
By establishing clear goals and a
strategy, creating quality content, and
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using available technologies.
A business blog can become the face of
| | 01:33 |
your business to the online community.
I'm excited to lead you on the path to
| | 01:38 |
business blogging success.
So let's get cracking with blogging for business.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 |
To visualize the process of planning,
creating, and publishing a business blog,
| | 00:05 |
I've created a visual guide in the form
of a cirle.
| | 00:08 |
As we move through the course, we move
from stage to stage and the current stage
| | 00:12 |
is highlighted.
Each stage comes with its own assets,
| | 00:16 |
including reference cards and documents
to be used in the planning and creation
| | 00:21 |
of your business blog.
These assets are provided in the exercise
| | 00:25 |
files for this course.
The key message to take away from this
| | 00:28 |
course is planning, and that's precisely
what the exercise assets will help you do.
| | 00:33 |
The reference cards help you take note of
key decisions in the planning process
| | 00:38 |
that in turn, will help you in building
the blog itself.
| | 00:42 |
They can also help when you discuss the
blog with management and other
| | 00:45 |
stakeholders in your company.
So, when you see a card appear in one of
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the movies, bring out your own card and
fill it in with your own content.
| | 00:55 |
That way, you'll have all the information
you need when it's time to start building
| | 00:59 |
your business blog.
To demonstrate this process, I'm going to
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use a fictional company, called
Connetico, that sells green energy
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products and solutions.
Connetico has a website, but wants to use
| | 01:11 |
a blog to get more customers and increase
their footprint on the web.
| | 01:15 |
Throughout the course, I'll fill out the
cards with information for Connetico, and
| | 01:20 |
you can do the same for your company.
Alright, let's get started.
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1. Blogging for Business: Core ConceptsWhat is a blog?| 00:00 |
Before we get down to business blogging,
it's worth taking a slight detour and
| | 00:05 |
looking at the word blog itself and what
it means.
| | 00:08 |
You probably heard many different
inferred interpretations and you probably
| | 00:12 |
also have your own understanding of what
a blog is, and what the word means.
| | 00:16 |
So let's take a look at the word blog,
where it came from.
| | 00:20 |
What it used to mean, and what it means
today.
| | 00:22 |
And based on that, make a definition we
can use as a basis for our project.
| | 00:28 |
The first person to use the word blog was
Peter Merholz.
| | 00:32 |
This was back in 1999, and he derived it
from the longer weblog, which was coined
| | 00:38 |
by John Barger in 1997.
Back then a web log or blog was basically
| | 00:44 |
an online life log or journal.
That's pretty close to the original
| | 00:48 |
definition of a blog.
Here from the Merriam Webster dictionary.
| | 00:52 |
Blog, a website that contains an online
personal journal with reflections,
| | 00:58 |
comments and often hyperlinks provided by
the writer.
| | 01:02 |
In other words blogs were identified by
common elements such as a reversed pro
| | 01:07 |
logical stream of blog polls with the
most recent polls displaying at the top.
| | 01:12 |
A side bar with links to blog archives
categories and a blog role of links to
| | 01:17 |
other blogs and common sections for each
individual posts.
| | 01:22 |
That was then, today the definition of
blog has evolved along with the medium
| | 01:27 |
and the web to mean something somewhat
different.
| | 01:30 |
If you ask our friend Google, a blog is a
website on which an individual or group
| | 01:36 |
of users record opinions information,
etcetera on a regular basis.
| | 01:41 |
This much broader definition not only
fits with how the web and blogs
| | 01:46 |
themselves are used today but also shows
how blogs have infringed on the
| | 01:50 |
previously clearly defined territory of
the website to become a subset rather
| | 01:55 |
than an alternative.
The key to this modern definition is to
| | 01:59 |
tail end of the definition.
On a regular basis, and this is what sets
| | 02:04 |
a blog apart from a website.
A website generally consists of a defined
| | 02:09 |
number of pages and sub pages that are
presented in a more or less static format.
| | 02:15 |
Only rarely are new pages added to your
website.
| | 02:18 |
The blog, on the other hand, is a
constant source of new information.
| | 02:22 |
And it's used to push this information
out to the public and engage that public
| | 02:26 |
in a discourse.
To put it in business terms, the website
| | 02:31 |
is the annual statement.
The blog is the newsletter.
| | 02:35 |
But unlike the newsletter, the blog and
its content is usually created to appeal
| | 02:39 |
to a wider audience as part of the
overall marketing plan for the business.
| | 02:44 |
In short, for a business the blog is the
platform through which customers and the
| | 02:50 |
general public can be reached and
engaged.
| | 02:52 |
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| Why blog for business?| 00:00 |
If we go by the definition that a blog is
a website on which an individual or group
| | 00:05 |
of users record opinions, information,
etcetera on a regular basis.
| | 00:10 |
what is the value in blogging for a
business?
| | 00:12 |
Shouldn't the opinions and information
about a business be hosted on a carefully
| | 00:16 |
controlled website?
The answer to the latter question is yes.
| | 00:20 |
The opinions and information about a
business should be hosted on a website.
| | 00:25 |
The blog comes in addition and will serve
as a platform to communicate a different
| | 00:29 |
type of opinions and information.
Let me explain.
| | 00:33 |
The reasons for the explosive popularity
and growth of blogs is that they made
| | 00:37 |
sharing thoughts and ideas easier than
ever before.
| | 00:41 |
The blogging tools and platforms remove
the requirements to understand web
| | 00:45 |
servers and programming languages to
publish content on the web.
| | 00:49 |
And served as intermediaries between
people and the web.
| | 00:53 |
And once people were to share their
thoughts and ideas freely, others took
| | 00:57 |
these ideas and shared them with their
group of friends and so on.
| | 01:01 |
And the reason why people were so eager
to share this content was because it was
| | 01:05 |
a different type of content from what
regular old websites provided.
| | 01:10 |
Blogs were full of tips and tricks, ideas
and concepts, debates, musing, and creativity.
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And that's the type of content the people
of the web not only want, but also want
| | 01:21 |
to share.
For a business, this distinction can be
| | 01:24 |
hard to grasp.
But once its properly understood and
| | 01:27 |
implemented it can be an invaluable asset
for marketing brand awareness.
| | 01:32 |
And interaction with existing and
potential customers.
| | 01:36 |
The key to great blogging is to share
valuable insight and information with the world.
| | 01:41 |
That can come in the form of tutorials,
articles, opinion pieces, questions and answers.
| | 01:47 |
The list goes on.
And if a blog does this and does it well.
| | 01:51 |
It can easily become a trusted source of
information for both your customers and
| | 01:56 |
for search engines.
The web has become an integrated entity.
| | 02:01 |
Everything is linked together and by
understanding and tapping into this integration.
| | 02:06 |
A good blogging strategy can have a
positive impact on the business website
| | 02:11 |
as a whole.
For a business, the point of a blog is to
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share valuable insights and information.
Not only about it's own products, but
| | 02:19 |
also about the general business
landscape.
| | 02:22 |
This will return an higher trust and
share factor among the web using public.
| | 02:27 |
Which in turn, means higher search
rankings on search engines for the blog,
| | 02:32 |
and for the website.
The end result is better brand awareness.
| | 02:37 |
The website, the blog, and social media
platforms join together to form the face
| | 02:43 |
of the business online, and the blog is
what ties it all together.
| | 02:47 |
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| Business blogging in five stages| 00:00 |
As I said in the intro, this course is
designed to help you plan, create and
| | 00:05 |
publish a blog for a business.
But that doesn't mean this course is only
| | 00:09 |
for people wanting to start a new blog.
If your business already has a blog, this
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course will help you take a step back and
create plans and strategies to build on
| | 00:19 |
what's been started.
We'll follow a game plan that has five
| | 00:23 |
main stages.
And at each stage, we'll define the
| | 00:26 |
parameters about the end of the course
will become the baseline elements for
| | 00:30 |
your business blog.
The first stage focuses on setting, goals
| | 00:34 |
for the blog.
These goals will be based on the goals
| | 00:38 |
for the business as a whole.
And are created to help focus the log and
| | 00:41 |
ensure that all online and marketing
assets are aiming towards the same target.
| | 00:47 |
In the second stage, we'll look at
strategy.
| | 00:50 |
We'll discuss the positioning of the blog
in relation to other online and offline assets.
| | 00:55 |
The management and decision making
structure of the blog itself, and who has
| | 01:00 |
publishing rights and final say.
We'll also look at how the success of the
| | 01:04 |
blog will be measured against the goals
for the blog and for the business.
| | 01:09 |
The third stage looks at technology.
Because of the prevalence and popularity
| | 01:14 |
of blogs, there are many different
platforms to choose from.
| | 01:18 |
Each with their own benefits and
drawbacks.
| | 01:21 |
And the platform you select will have a
significant impact on the blog you end up publishing.
| | 01:26 |
There are also a plethora of three and
four play services available online that
| | 01:31 |
can augment, plug into, and work next to
your blog to enlarge its digital
| | 01:36 |
footprint on the web.
We'll discuss these technologies, and
| | 01:40 |
I'll help you make an informed decision
and a strategy for how to implement them
| | 01:44 |
for the best results.
In the fourth stage, we'll look at
| | 01:48 |
content creation.
How to define what type of content should
| | 01:51 |
be published on the blog, who should
create and manage this content, and how
| | 01:56 |
that content should be published for the
most impact and bang for your buck.
| | 02:01 |
The fifth and final stage is
implementation.
| | 02:05 |
This is where the different segments come
together and the blog itself takes shape.
| | 02:10 |
With all the previous stages complete,
you'll have a clear path to follow when
| | 02:14 |
decisions about the sign, publishing
schedules, and social interaction need to
| | 02:19 |
be made.
And you'll be ready to create, publish,
| | 02:22 |
and manage a blog for your business.
It may seem like an elaborate process
| | 02:26 |
just to make a blog, but trust me, it
pays off in spades at the end.
| | 02:31 |
Planning before publishing has always
been a great strategy.
| | 02:35 |
And when it comes to blogging for
business, the more planning precedes the
| | 02:39 |
publishing the better.
Consider this course your publishing plan
| | 02:43 |
of action.
| | 02:43 |
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2. GoalsFinding a purpose| 00:00 |
The first and most important step in
creating a business blog, is to define
| | 00:04 |
clear goals for the blog.
This also happens to be the most
| | 00:08 |
overlooked component of the planning
process, and for good reason.
| | 00:12 |
Defining goals for something that just
looks like random updates about business
| | 00:16 |
related items, seems uneccessary.
But just like with business itself, if
| | 00:21 |
the blog doesn't have clear goals it'll
be left flailing with no clear focus or intent.
| | 00:27 |
Defining clear goals for your blog will
help in two ways.
| | 00:30 |
First, you'll set targets for everyone
who works with the blog.
| | 00:34 |
Second, you can use those goals to
measure your success.
| | 00:39 |
How do you define goals for a blog?
Well, first you have to establish the
| | 00:43 |
goal, or goals, for the business.
The blog is there to support the
| | 00:47 |
business, so their goals should be in
line with each other.
| | 00:50 |
So, let's take one step back and look at
the goals for the business itself, to
| | 00:56 |
find out how the blog can help get the
business closer to its goals.
| | 01:01 |
The first stage of the process is the
Goals section, which comes with the first
| | 01:05 |
reference card.
The first section of the goals card is
| | 01:09 |
the business purpose.
This is where you need to tunnel into the
| | 01:13 |
structure of your business and find its
core.
| | 01:16 |
The best place to start this process is
by talking to the people at the center of
| | 01:20 |
it all at the top of the pyramid.
Owners and executives and also the
| | 01:24 |
marketing department.
What you're looking for here, is a clear
| | 01:28 |
statement of intent, The Core Purpose of
the Business.
| | 01:31 |
This is often confused with a mission
statement or corporate tagline.
| | 01:35 |
But these are usually far too vague and
aspirational.
| | 01:39 |
What you want, what should go on the card
is the raw purpose of the business.
| | 01:43 |
What is its essence?
For our example, the business purpose is
| | 01:48 |
to sell clean energy products.
So that's what goes on the card, sell
| | 01:52 |
clean energy products.
When you've established this business
| | 01:56 |
purpose, you can take a look at all the
activities in your business.
| | 02:00 |
And see how they are or at least how they
should be furthering that key goal.
| | 02:05 |
Asking questions like why do we publicize
educational materials?
| | 02:09 |
Or why do we provide our employees with
on the job training?
| | 02:13 |
The answer will always be some form of
this business purpose.
| | 02:17 |
We publicize educational materials to
educate people so they find reasons to
| | 02:21 |
buy our clean energy products.
We provide our employees with on the job
| | 02:25 |
training so they're better equipped to
sell clean energy products.
| | 02:30 |
The same goes for the blog.
Why do we have a blog?
| | 02:33 |
To market the company and as a result
sell more clean energy products.
| | 02:38 |
Clearly defining and spelling out the
business purpose, the prime objective or
| | 02:43 |
goal for a business, has benefits that
reach far beyond the planning of a blog.
| | 02:48 |
It also provides a new and welcome
perspective on the business itself.
| | 02:52 |
Simply put, stating out loud while you
actually do will help you do it better.
| | 02:58 |
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| Defining goals| 00:00 |
With the business purpose clearly
established and written down on the goals
| | 00:04 |
card, you're ready to start defining
specific and attainable goals for the blog.
| | 00:09 |
The key in this stage is to always ensure
the goals of the blog line up with the
| | 00:14 |
business purpose of the company.
To get this process started, brainstorm
| | 00:18 |
topics about how you want to communicate
what the business does to the web using public.
| | 00:24 |
Here, it's important to remember what a
blog is, a sharing and communication platform.
| | 00:29 |
Therefore, questions to start the
brainstorming sessions should point
| | 00:32 |
towards active and participatory
elements.
| | 00:36 |
What can a blog visitor learn from us?
What do they want to learn from us?
| | 00:42 |
What can we learn from our customers?
How can we contribute to the bait in our field?
| | 00:48 |
How do we establish ourselves as thought
leaders?
| | 00:52 |
Let's look at our example.
What can a blog visitor learn from us?
| | 00:56 |
We can educate her on green energy
technologies.
| | 01:00 |
Whatever the business purpose of your
company, the answers to these types of
| | 01:04 |
questions should always be followed by
the question, how can this be used to get
| | 01:09 |
us closer to our business purpose?
This question leads to our goal.
| | 01:13 |
So in our example, the goal would be,
become a leading resource on information
| | 01:18 |
about green technologies.
In other words, the goals for the blog
| | 01:23 |
focus on sharing ideas, and becoming a
trusted resource.
| | 01:26 |
While the end game is to drive customers
to the business.
| | 01:30 |
Lets take a look at the other questions.
What do they want to learn from us?
| | 01:36 |
While we get a lot of queries, we don't
currently have a database of frequently
| | 01:39 |
asked questions.
So, the goal would be, reach out to
| | 01:43 |
potential and existing customers to help
create an FAQ on our key technology fields.
| | 01:50 |
What can we learn from our customers?
Several customers have shared their
| | 01:54 |
success stories about implementing our
technologies with us.
| | 01:58 |
So the goal here would be share customer
stories and insight to encourage viral sharing.
| | 02:05 |
You can also define both short term and
long term goals for the blog, as in this example.
| | 02:11 |
How can we contribute to a debate in our
field and establish ourselves as thought leaders?
| | 02:15 |
Our staffers are experts on solar energy,
they can pipe in on political decisions
| | 02:21 |
around this topic by sharing
authoritative facts and figures and
| | 02:25 |
technical know how.
So, the short term goal in this case is
| | 02:29 |
become a go-to source of information
about solar energy for news publications.
| | 02:35 |
While the long term goal may be shape
political opinion about solar energy.
| | 02:41 |
These goals will help focus the content
of your blog and insure that what is
| | 02:45 |
published is in line with the overall
business purpose of your company.
| | 02:49 |
The goals you end up defining will be as
unique as your business.
| | 02:53 |
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| Creating a one-year plan| 00:00 |
While conceptual goals, like the ones
we've established, are important, it's
| | 00:05 |
equally important to set specific goals
around increasing readership, traffic,
| | 00:10 |
and engagement.
I recommend creating a one year plan with
| | 00:14 |
milestones, so everyone working on the
blog will know what they're working
| | 00:19 |
towards, and how to measure success as
they move forward.
| | 00:23 |
The goals card will help you establish a
one year timeline and set incremental
| | 00:28 |
milestones for the foreseeable future of
the blog.
| | 00:32 |
When you create your one year plan, it's
important to set realistic expectations.
| | 00:37 |
And to do so, we first have to understand
how the blog will function in the larger
| | 00:41 |
context of the online web presence of the
company.
| | 00:44 |
The web is overflowing with blogs, so
merely publishing a blog and expecting it
| | 00:50 |
to start bringing in readers is not
realistic.
| | 00:53 |
To get eyes on the blog, you have to
invest time and money in marketing and engagement.
| | 00:58 |
And here, as in most things in life, the
return on investment is proportionate to
| | 01:04 |
the investment itself.
The first milestone on the card, for the
| | 01:09 |
first week of the blog is about building
immediate interests.
| | 01:13 |
That could mean getting the blog
mentioned in a newsletter, or an industry
| | 01:17 |
publication, or even host a launch party.
Search engines like blogs because they're
| | 01:23 |
continuously updated.
And because their content is more
| | 01:26 |
organically based.
Search engines also rank blogs based on
| | 01:31 |
how well they ask and answer questions,
and whether people find them trust worthy.
| | 01:37 |
An easy way to bolster this is to publish
customer testimonials and stories or
| | 01:42 |
offer up best practice examples to answer
common questions or challenges customers
| | 01:47 |
may face.
The second milestone on the card for the
| | 01:52 |
first month is about publishing search
friendly content.
| | 01:56 |
As an example, it could be published five
customer stories or publish eight answers
| | 02:02 |
to common questions.
A blog is an organic part of the overall
| | 02:07 |
marketing and branding strategy for a
business.
| | 02:10 |
This means the positive influence of the
blog does not come solely in the form of
| | 02:15 |
direct visits to the blog.
It also comes from how the blog content
| | 02:20 |
is shared on the web, and how people
start seeing that content and the company
| | 02:24 |
it came from, as a valued resource.
The third milestone on the card, at month
| | 02:30 |
3, is to boost visits to the blog and the
main website through social media.
| | 02:36 |
An example would be double visitor
numbers on a month to month basis.
| | 02:43 |
Once your blog is starting to get
traction, and searched and on social
| | 02:46 |
media, it's important to hone in on the
type of content people are searching for
| | 02:51 |
and sharing.
And increasing production and publication
| | 02:55 |
of that type of content.
It often turns out that the type of
| | 02:58 |
content you think people want, and the
type of content people actually want are
| | 03:04 |
wildly different things.
The fourth milestone, at the 6-month
| | 03:08 |
mark, is about evaluation.
For example, identify the three most
| | 03:14 |
found and shared articles on the blog to
be used as content templates for future posts.
| | 03:21 |
The fifth milestone, at the 9-month mark,
is a direct follow up using the data from
| | 03:27 |
the 6th month mark to run experiments on
targeted content production.
| | 03:32 |
Triple direct search hits and shares for
poles based on content templates.
| | 03:38 |
The 6th and last milestone at the 12
months mark is a revisit and reset.
| | 03:44 |
For the first year of a blog, my
recommendation is to not set specific
| | 03:49 |
expectations, but rather establish a
baseline for future operations.
| | 03:55 |
It takes time for a blog to establish
itself on the web, and this time can be
| | 03:59 |
used to gather metrics about visitor
behavior and interaction, as well as
| | 04:04 |
experimentation with different publishing
models.
| | 04:07 |
At the one year mark, you can look at all
the data you've collected and identify
| | 04:12 |
what works, what doesn't work, and what
can be improved upon.
| | 04:17 |
With this in mind you can go back to the
first stage and go through the entire
| | 04:21 |
process again.
From goals, all the way to
| | 04:24 |
implementation, and revisit every
decision to see if it needs to be revised.
| | 04:31 |
A blog, like the web, has to be a moving
target.
| | 04:35 |
And by making a yearly revisit of every
aspect of the planning process, you
| | 04:40 |
create an agile process that allows the
blog to evolve with the times.
| | 04:45 |
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3. StrategyWhere does the blog live?| 00:00 |
The question, where does the blog live,
might seem a little silly.
| | 00:04 |
Well, it lives on the web, on a server,
most likely on your server.
| | 00:08 |
But that's not what I mean when I ask the
question.
| | 00:13 |
What I mean is, where does the blog live
in relation to your other online assets?
| | 00:19 |
This is an important question to answer
early in the planning process.
| | 00:24 |
Depending on what type of business you
are working for, and how that business
| | 00:28 |
uses the web, the positioning of the blog
will vary greatly.
| | 00:32 |
The reason you want to think this through
and make a decision about the positioning
| | 00:36 |
of the blog.
Is that it will impact how you handle
| | 00:39 |
your online assets in the future.
And it will also impact how the consumers
| | 00:44 |
and customers interact with the same
assets.
| | 00:48 |
We're now moving to the strategy section,
where we find the strategy card.
| | 00:53 |
The front page of the strategy card will
be used to draw a map of all your online
| | 00:58 |
assets, and how they relate to one
another.
| | 01:02 |
The best way to get a handle on your
online assets and how they interact is to
| | 01:06 |
place them on a map and draw arrows
between them.
| | 01:10 |
This can be done on a sketch, or on a
white board, or even using individual
| | 01:15 |
cutout pieces for each asset.
What you want to do is identify each asset.
| | 01:21 |
So your main website, the intranet, the
customer portal, your Twitter account and
| | 01:26 |
Facebook page, and any other online asset
run by the company.
| | 01:31 |
Once you have all your assets on the
board, start drawing arrows between them
| | 01:35 |
to show their current relationship with
each other.
| | 01:39 |
If your main website has Twitter link on
it, use an arrow from the site to Twitter.
| | 01:45 |
If your website has a YouTube video on
it, use an arrow pointing from YouTube to
| | 01:50 |
your website, you get the idea.
Now, add the blog into the mix.
| | 01:55 |
Either, with a different color, or on a
different drawing.
| | 01:59 |
Think about where the blog is positioned.
Either inside the website, or outside.
| | 02:04 |
And how the blog changes the linking
between elements.
| | 02:08 |
Unlike the main website, which usually is
the one way communication stream from the
| | 02:12 |
company to the people.
The blog can be build around a loser
| | 02:17 |
information philosophy incorporating
elements like social media, like tweets
| | 02:21 |
and Facebook updates.
And embedding YouTube videos etcetera.
| | 02:26 |
The blog can also be used to point the
visitor directly at key assets on the
| | 02:31 |
main website.
While at the same time adding more
| | 02:34 |
information to the discussion or it can
be used as the gateway between the
| | 02:38 |
business and social media in general.
Once you have a clear picture of all your
| | 02:44 |
assets and how they relate to one another
draw it on the front of the strategy card.
| | 02:49 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Who "owns" the blog?| 00:00 |
If you think about it, a blog is a lot of
like a newspaper or a magazine.
| | 00:04 |
You constantly publish new content, and
you have multiple authors and
| | 00:09 |
contributors who create this content.
And just like a newspaper or a magazine,
| | 00:14 |
you need to have an editorial hierarchy,
with clearly defined roles, so everyone
| | 00:19 |
working on the blog knows who they answer
to.
| | 00:21 |
And so, that the editorial decisions are
consistent and in line with overall
| | 00:26 |
company policies.
On the strategy card, you have an
| | 00:30 |
editorial map.
Before we move on, we need to fill in
| | 00:34 |
this map, putting a name to each of the
tiers and ensuring that the roles and
| | 00:38 |
responsibilities for each of these tiers
are clearly defined.
| | 00:42 |
At the top, you find the editor in chief.
This person is the de facto owner of the
| | 00:48 |
blog, and is the person who answers for
its contents.
| | 00:51 |
The editor in chief has final say on what
gets published.
| | 00:55 |
She is responsible for ensuring that all
content is in line with company and blog
| | 01:00 |
policies and goals.
Finally, she makes sure that the tone and
| | 01:05 |
presentation of the content is correct.
The second tier is the Content Manager.
| | 01:10 |
Responsible for finding and comissioning
content for all of or a sub group of topics.
| | 01:16 |
The Content Manager would answer to the
Editor In Chief and serve as a filter for her.
| | 01:23 |
The third tier is the content editor,
responsible for receiving and editing
| | 01:28 |
content before it reaches the content
manager.
| | 01:31 |
The fourth tier is the Contributor.
This is the tier in which the content
| | 01:35 |
itself is produced before being sent to
the content editor.
| | 01:40 |
These tiers will differ depending on the
size of your company.
| | 01:43 |
For a small company, one or two people
can fulfill these roles, but for a large
| | 01:48 |
company it can be a good idea to
distribute roles across many staffers.
| | 01:53 |
In a real life scenario, the structure
would work something like this, the
| | 01:58 |
Editor-in-Chief could call for content.
The Content Manager would find the right
| | 02:04 |
person in the company to produce this
content.
| | 02:08 |
The Contributor would produce the
content.
| | 02:12 |
The Content Editor would handle cleanups,
revisions, and rewrites.
| | 02:18 |
The Content Manager would look over the
content, ensuring it's in line with what
| | 02:22 |
was commissioned.
And finally, the Editor-in-Chief receives
| | 02:27 |
the content, checks to make sure it's in
line with goals and policies, and tells
| | 02:32 |
the Content Manager to publish it to the
blog.
| | 02:35 |
The reason for this structure is to make
sure there's over site at each stage in
| | 02:40 |
the process.
By clearly defining roles, it will lessen
| | 02:44 |
the load on a single person by
distributing responsibility across the
| | 02:48 |
different tiers.
And yes, as you can see, this essentially
| | 02:52 |
means there will be a person in your
company, whose main focus or sole job is
| | 02:57 |
to be the Editor-in-Chief or owner of the
blog.
| | 02:59 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating editorial guidelines| 00:00 |
Creating editorial guidelines for a
business blog will help you set the
| | 00:04 |
framework for content production.
It will also give both content creators
| | 00:09 |
and the visiting public a clear
understanding of what can be expected
| | 00:13 |
from the blog.
With the cards and information you have
| | 00:16 |
collected so far, you can establish a
comprehensive set of editorial guidelines
| | 00:21 |
to give editors, contributors and
visitors.
| | 00:24 |
A clear picture of what they can expect
and what is expected of them.
| | 00:29 |
To help start this process, I've created
an editorial guideline template.
| | 00:34 |
This is not complete.
And depending on your particular
| | 00:37 |
situation and requirements, you can add
or subtract elements and change anything
| | 00:42 |
in the guidelines to fit your particular
business blog.
| | 00:46 |
At the core of the editorial guidelines
lies two key components, the list of
| | 00:51 |
editorial staff and the principles of
publishing.
| | 00:54 |
You established a list of editorial staff
on the strategy card.
| | 00:59 |
This list should be added to the
editorial guidelines, to make it clear to
| | 01:03 |
everyone who holds the key roles and
responsibilities where publishing the
| | 01:07 |
blog and its content is concerned.
This list will of course have to be
| | 01:11 |
updated whenever there's a change in
editorial staff.
| | 01:16 |
The principals of publishing outline the
overall principals the blog adheres to.
| | 01:20 |
Here, you should list the principals and
philosophies of the company itself and
| | 01:25 |
also principals of editorial and
journalistic affects.
| | 01:30 |
By publishing content, you're taking part
in a age old tradition of information sharing.
| | 01:35 |
And it's vitally important that you
establish and adhere to a strict code of
| | 01:40 |
ethics when it comes to publishing this
information.
| | 01:43 |
This includes being open and honest about
your affiliations, being factual, and
| | 01:48 |
correcting your errors.
Because you are publishing content online
| | 01:52 |
in a social media setting, there are also
some other issues to consider.
| | 01:57 |
To help guide you, I've added links to
the code of ethics for bloggers and
| | 02:01 |
social media content creators.
I created based on the journalistic code
| | 02:05 |
of ethics.
And also, the code of ethics created by
| | 02:08 |
Tim O'Reilly.
These should be at the foundation of all
| | 02:13 |
content creation on the web.
And I encourage you to read through and
| | 02:17 |
incorporate them into your editorial
guidelines.
| | 02:21 |
The rest of the guidelines are self
explanatory.
| | 02:23 |
Set out guidelines for the type of
content to be published and how specific
| | 02:28 |
elements are handled.
Including images, links, and content from
| | 02:32 |
external sources.
The editorial guidelines is in many ways
| | 02:36 |
a legal document.
And it's important to include management,
| | 02:40 |
legal, and marketing in the approval
process of the guidelines.
| | 02:44 |
Once the editorial guidelines have been
completed and approved, provide them to
| | 02:48 |
everyone in the editorial staff.
All the contributors and other asset
| | 02:53 |
holders, post it up in the office, and
share it on the blog itself to ensure
| | 02:57 |
complete transparency.
| | 02:59 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. TechnologyUnderstanding the web| 00:00 |
When publishing a blog or any other type
of content on the web, it's important to
| | 00:05 |
understand how the web works and how
people can interact with this content.
| | 00:10 |
Let's first look at how a webpage works.
A server is connected to the web, on that
| | 00:17 |
server there is a web document.
You can open that web document using a
| | 00:22 |
web browser and see its contents.
In this scenario, each new webpage is a
| | 00:28 |
new web document.
Simple.
| | 00:30 |
But when there's a lot of pages, or you
want advanced interactive components,
| | 00:35 |
like commenting, it gets tricky.
Enter the CMS or Content Management System.
| | 00:42 |
A CMS allows you to use templates and a
database to populate the pages.
| | 00:48 |
That means instead of having a web server
with one document for each page, you have
| | 00:53 |
a web server with template files and a
database.
| | 00:56 |
And then, the CMS takes the appropriate
template files and combine them with the
| | 01:00 |
appropriate database content.
To create the page in the visiting browser.
| | 01:06 |
The advantage of the CMS is that the flow
of information can also go in the other direction.
| | 01:12 |
A user or adminstrator can enter
information on the webpage that is sent
| | 01:17 |
back to the database.
This is how blogs work because blogging
| | 01:22 |
applications are simplified Content
Management Systems.
| | 01:27 |
When you pick what blogging application
you want to use, you have two main options.
| | 01:32 |
Cloud hosted services or self-hosted
applications.
| | 01:37 |
Cloud hosted services are free or for-pay
solutions where the server side or back
| | 01:42 |
end is handled by a third party and is
more or less invisible to you.
| | 01:48 |
You send information into the Cloud, and
information comes out of the Cloud.
| | 01:52 |
Self-hosted applications are applications
you place on your own server and manage yourself.
| | 02:00 |
There are benefits and drawbacks to both
which we'll touch on later in this course.
| | 02:05 |
Web publishing today goes beyond the
simple publishing of pages online.
| | 02:10 |
It also includes sharing through social
media and social networks.
| | 02:16 |
Whenever a new post is published on your
blog it can be linked to a republished
| | 02:21 |
throughout social networks to bring
attention and readers back to the blog.
| | 02:25 |
This sharing cycle has become as
important if not more important than
| | 02:31 |
search engine results, because it's
powered by people.
| | 02:35 |
Once a post is shared on either Twitter
or Facebook or Google Plus or Pinterest,
| | 02:41 |
it's more likely to be shared on one of
the other services as well.
| | 02:45 |
And the more it's shared on different
sites, the more attention it will get.
| | 02:50 |
Knowing this, you need to make sure your
chosen blogging platform and
| | 02:54 |
infrastructure give you the level of
control you need.
| | 02:58 |
Enable sharing across social networks and
services and allows you to customize the
| | 03:03 |
meta data that is shared on social
networks.
| | 03:06 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Picking a platform| 00:00 |
We now move on to the technology section
where we find the technology card.
| | 00:05 |
This is where you make the important
decisions on what platform to base your
| | 00:09 |
business blog on.
And also what technologies and services
| | 00:13 |
to hook into for added exposure and
interaction.
| | 00:17 |
The first thing you need to decide on is
the blogging platform.
| | 00:21 |
While there are many platforms available,
we can narrow the list down considerably
| | 00:25 |
by counting in factors like support,
prevalence, and how often the application
| | 00:31 |
is updated.
The least labor-intensive option is
| | 00:35 |
WordPress.com, a cloud based service with
a free and for-pay options.
| | 00:41 |
Because it's a cloud based service, you
have limited control over styling and functionality.
| | 00:46 |
But in return you don't have to worry
about security and upgrades.
| | 00:50 |
Wordpress.com is powered by WordPress,
the most popular and prevalent blogging
| | 00:56 |
and content management system on the web
today.
| | 00:58 |
And it's owned and operated by a company
called Automatic.
| | 01:02 |
Which in turn is run by Matt Mullenweg,
the core creator of WordPress itself.
| | 01:08 |
WordPress.com is a great option if you
want to hand off maintenance and control
| | 01:13 |
to a third party.
But for most business, a self hosted
| | 01:17 |
solution is to be preferred.
For self hosting you have many options
| | 01:22 |
but the 3 most prevalent are Wordpress
Drupal and Joomla.
| | 01:27 |
These are applications you install and
run on your own server that can power a
| | 01:34 |
blog or a website.
WordPress is, by far, the most popular of
| | 01:38 |
the three.
And the application powers close to 20
| | 01:41 |
percent of all websites worldwide.
It's appeal is a simple and intuitive
| | 01:47 |
user interface, and accessible
development platform, making it a
| | 01:52 |
favorite amongst web designers and
developers as well as bloggers.
| | 01:56 |
WordPress is also my choice in platform
for blogging and web publishing in general.
| | 02:01 |
While WordPress has grown from a blogging
platform into a CMS, Drupal and Joomla
| | 02:08 |
have always been CMS' with blogging
functionality built in.
| | 02:12 |
This means they're more complex and have
more advanced features under the hood,
| | 02:17 |
but with that added complexity comes
added complexity.
| | 02:23 |
Whether you choose a solution like
WordPress or you want to go with a full
| | 02:28 |
CMS like Drupal or Joomla, depends in
large part on what else you want to do
| | 02:33 |
with the solution.
If you're just setting up a blog or
| | 02:37 |
making a small-scale website, WordPress
is usually the right solution.
| | 02:42 |
If you're looking for an enterprise-scale
platform to handle all your online assets
| | 02:47 |
and replace your business website, Drupal
or Joomla may be better options.
| | 02:52 |
Once you've selected what blogging
platform you want to use, highlight it on
| | 02:56 |
the card and contact a professional
developer specializing in that platform
| | 03:01 |
to ensure you get it set up correctly.
| | 03:03 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Social media decisions| 00:00 |
Once you've picked the blogging platform
you should also consider what social
| | 00:04 |
media services you want to use and
integrate with.
| | 00:08 |
There are many options and which services
you choose to go with, will depend on
| | 00:12 |
your target market as well your budget.
A Facebook page is a sound investment for
| | 00:18 |
any company that targets the average
consumer, and Facebook pages can also
| | 00:23 |
easily be integrated with blogs.
Twitter is a great tool to gather
| | 00:28 |
information and interact with the average
consumer, but it requires a lot of work
| | 00:34 |
to maintain a popular Twitter profile.
Many companies have a Twitter handle
| | 00:38 |
mainly to address customer questions and
complaints and this is a bare minimum in
| | 00:44 |
my opinion.
Google Plus is a bit of an unknown at the moment.
| | 00:49 |
You can choose to treat it like Facebook
by setting up a company page and profile
| | 00:54 |
or you can choose to use it a little like
Twitter on a conversational basis.
| | 01:00 |
The one thing to remember with Google
plus is to set up Google plus authorship
| | 01:05 |
for your blog and its authors.
So the content gets linked together on Google.
| | 01:10 |
YouTube has searched into a search engine
of sort.
| | 01:15 |
And if you're ready to invest in video
production, setting up a YouTube channel
| | 01:19 |
and publishing relevant video material,
can be a great marketing tool.
| | 01:24 |
Just remember that YouTube is populated
by some, less than serious elements.
| | 01:31 |
There are also several other social media
and social publishing platforms worth
| | 01:35 |
considering, including Pinterest,
Linkedin, and tumblr.
| | 01:41 |
Which social sharing services you choose
to invest in will depend on where your
| | 01:45 |
target audience is and how they use the
web.
| | 01:49 |
If you have highly shareable content that
appeals to the general public Facebook,
| | 01:54 |
Twitter, and Pintrest may be good focus
areas.
| | 01:58 |
If your content is of a more professional
nature, Linkedin may be a better option.
| | 02:04 |
When selecting which social platforms to
focus on.
| | 02:06 |
Talk to the marketing department and find
out what platforms are already included
| | 02:11 |
in the online marketing strategy of the
company.
| | 02:14 |
Once you've picked a platforms, highlight
them on your card.
| | 02:18 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Getting wired in| 00:00 |
In addition to selecting a blogging
platform and social media focus, you'll
| | 00:05 |
benefit from integrating common web
services into your site.
| | 00:09 |
These services range from monitoring and
analytics to backing up and security.
| | 00:14 |
Together, they'll ensure a consistent and
hopefully trouble free experience for you
| | 00:19 |
as the administrator and for the visitor.
Two key services every website and blog
| | 00:26 |
must be linked to are Google Webmasters
and Bing Webmaster tools.
| | 00:29 |
These services, provided by the two
largest search engines on the web monitor
| | 00:36 |
your site for activity.
Ensure that your content is indexed
| | 00:39 |
properly so people can find it in search
results and also alerts you if and when
| | 00:44 |
something goes wrong.
Both services are free and easy to set up
| | 00:49 |
and the information you get in return is
invaluable when you want to improve your site.
| | 00:54 |
Or find out why it's not working
properly, or not being indexed.
| | 00:59 |
To get the full benefit out of these
Webmaster tools, it's necessary to set up
| | 01:04 |
detailed site map files for your blog.
This can usually be done automatically
| | 01:09 |
through plug ins or modules for your
chosen platform.
| | 01:14 |
Google also have a long list of other
free services worth setting up.
| | 01:18 |
Including Google Analytics, which runs
statistics on your visitors and how they
| | 01:24 |
interact with your site.
Google Place, which associates your
| | 01:28 |
website and Google account with the
physical location of your business.
| | 01:33 |
And allows for your website to show up in
geographically-weighted searches.
| | 01:38 |
And Google Plus Authorship, which
associates individual blog authors with
| | 01:43 |
published content as well as the blog and
site itself.
| | 01:47 |
In addition to these services that gather
information about your site, you should
| | 01:52 |
also invest in services that ensure that
everything works properly on your site.
| | 01:57 |
This includes proper backup and
restoration in case of a server crash or
| | 02:01 |
malicious attack and security monitoring
of your sites.
| | 02:06 |
There are many different service
providers who offer these types of services.
| | 02:10 |
And you may already have such services
internally in your company, or integrated
| | 02:15 |
into the existing company website.
The key here is to ensure you have proper
| | 02:20 |
backup routines in place and that someone
is making sure your site is in good
| | 02:24 |
health and is not vulnerable to attack.
To make sure you have all your bases
| | 02:30 |
covered when it comes to external
services, the technology card has a list
| | 02:35 |
for reference with the most common
services that you can check off as you
| | 02:39 |
set them up.
| | 02:39 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| SEO and sharing| 00:00 |
Back in the good old days of the web, you
could trick the search engines into
| | 00:04 |
giving your website higher preference, by
writing your web code in a certain way.
| | 00:09 |
And adding extra bits of information on
your site.
| | 00:13 |
Those days are long gone.
And today is the content itself.
| | 00:17 |
And how that content is shared that makes
the big difference.
| | 00:21 |
Search is still important but sharing is
quickly overtaking this old method of
| | 00:27 |
finding content, so focusing on
optimizing your site for sharing should
| | 00:31 |
be your first priority.
Luckily much of this share optimization
| | 00:36 |
will also improve your ranking on search
engines.
| | 00:39 |
And in most cases it has more to do with
good writing.
| | 00:44 |
Then it has to be with tinkering with
code.
| | 00:47 |
On the technology card, there's a list
showing the technical elements of sharing
| | 00:51 |
and search engine optimization.
And how effective each of these are.
| | 00:57 |
These technical elements combined with
strategic writing, will help you get your
| | 01:01 |
content found.
Shared and clicked on.
| | 01:04 |
Let's a closer look.
A regular blog post consists of three
| | 01:10 |
main elements.
The title, the content, and the taxonomies.
| | 01:16 |
Many posts also have a fourth optional
element in the form of images.
| | 01:21 |
All these play into how your content is
shared.
| | 01:25 |
And how it's indexed on search engines.
If you only have your regular title and
| | 01:31 |
your regular content.
Here's what will happen.
| | 01:34 |
When the post is shared on social media,
the title will be picked up and displayed
| | 01:39 |
in the title field in the preview.
Below that, the descriptive field will
| | 01:44 |
show the first couple of sentences of
your article.
| | 01:48 |
What happens in search engines, depends
on what kind of search the user made.
| | 01:54 |
The title of the post will be the title
in the search result but the description
| | 01:59 |
will either be the first couple of
sentences.
| | 02:02 |
Or it'll be a sentence that matches the
search results exactly.
| | 02:06 |
This last part is important to know.
If you want people to find your content
| | 02:11 |
when they make specific searches make
sure those searches are actually spelled
| | 02:16 |
out in your posts.
That way Google and Bing can match them exactly.
| | 02:23 |
For search, the title and the post
content, is of medium value.
| | 02:28 |
But, for share, they are both of low
value because these fields are shortened,
| | 02:33 |
and post titles and intros are rarely
written with sharing in mind.
| | 02:38 |
That's where the meta-title and
description fields come in.
| | 02:41 |
The meta title and description will only
be visible in search engine results and
| | 02:47 |
when the content is shared on social
media.
| | 02:50 |
That means, you can customize these
fields to make the content more find able
| | 02:54 |
and share able.
When filling these fields out, keep in
| | 02:59 |
mind that they're short.
So put the most important information first.
| | 03:04 |
If the original post title was how
massive corp saved thousands on
| | 03:09 |
installing solar panels the metatitle
should be solar panels saves thousands
| | 03:15 |
from massive corp, so the key phrases,
solar panels and saves, are at the very front.
| | 03:23 |
The description should be short and
should ask and answer a question, and be
| | 03:27 |
descriptive of the content of the post.
All in 160 characters or less.
| | 03:32 |
Tricky, but it can be done.
The third element is taxonomies or
| | 03:38 |
categories in text.
Though these have only medium impact on search.
| | 03:43 |
They're still important and here's why.
When search engines index your site, they
| | 03:48 |
use a spider script that crawls through
your entire site.
| | 03:51 |
Following every hyperlink that they can
find.
| | 03:54 |
That means that if you set up a smart
taxonomies structure and organize your
| | 03:58 |
content well.
Google will index your content based on
| | 04:02 |
this structure.
And this will, in turn, make your content
| | 04:05 |
easier to find.
There are no tricks here.
| | 04:08 |
Simply good organization.
So categorize and tag your polls, and
| | 04:13 |
you'll see a small return.
When it comes to images, there are two
| | 04:17 |
main elements that matter.
The featured image, and the image alt attribute.
| | 04:23 |
The featured image option usually
standard in blogging platforms flags one
| | 04:28 |
image in your post for use elsewhere.
In your blog this usually means the page
| | 04:34 |
appears as a thumbnail on index pages,
and the same is true when your post is
| | 04:39 |
shared on social media.
In the post preview on Facebook and
| | 04:43 |
Google plus you'll see the title, the
description and the featured image.
| | 04:48 |
If you don't select the featured image
the services will find a random image on
| | 04:53 |
the page and use that instead and that
doesn't always work out the way you want
| | 04:58 |
it to.
The image alt attribute is an overlooked
| | 05:01 |
element that can have a great impact on
search ranking.
| | 05:05 |
We'll go over the alt attribute later in
the course but here's the just of it.
| | 05:09 |
The alt attribute is the alternative
description of the image displayed if the
| | 05:15 |
image is not displayed.
This text gets indexed by search engines
| | 05:19 |
meaning if you put relevant information
about the post and the image in the alt
| | 05:24 |
attribute, searches on Google will turn
up the image.
| | 05:28 |
Let me give you a practical example.
If I was a Realtor for Burnaby British
| | 05:33 |
Columbia, and I posted my photo on my
blog with the alt attribute set to Morgan
| | 05:39 |
Ran Hendrickson only people searching for
my name would find that image.
| | 05:44 |
But if I set the alt attribute to Burnaby
Realtor Morgan Ran Hendrickson.
| | 05:51 |
Any one searching for Burnaby realtor
will see my face in the image search,
| | 05:57 |
simple and effective.
Just remember that alt attribute is the
| | 06:02 |
description of the image.
If you start putting other information in
| | 06:06 |
there intead that is not related then
Google police will come and get you.
| | 06:12 |
Like I said, share and search
optimization is more about good strategy
| | 06:17 |
than it is about technology.
By writing share-friendly meta-titles and
| | 06:21 |
descriptions, organizing your content
well, assigning a featured image, and
| | 06:26 |
setting descriptive alt attributes, you
will boost your blog's presence online
| | 06:31 |
with minimal effort.
| | 06:32 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Content CreationCreating a content strategy| 00:00 |
You've now reached the content creation
stage.
| | 00:03 |
Here you find the content card.
The content card will help guide you
| | 00:08 |
through this process.
Looking back on the goals, strategy, and
| | 00:13 |
technology cards you can now start the
process of creating a content strategy
| | 00:18 |
for the blog by asking four key
questions.
| | 00:21 |
What are we aiming to do with the blog?
How are we doing this on the Web?
| | 00:27 |
Who's in charge?
And how do we measure success?
| | 00:32 |
The answers to these questions laid out
on the goals and strategy cards will be
| | 00:37 |
the framework for your content strategy.
With this in mind, you can start making
| | 00:43 |
decisions about the content strategy.
The first step in creating a content
| | 00:48 |
strategy is to define a niche for your
blog.
| | 00:51 |
And from there, define key topics to
cover, and assign those topics to content
| | 00:56 |
managers and contributors.
Finding the niche for your blog can be a
| | 01:01 |
challenging task.
But it can also be used as a tool to
| | 01:05 |
clearly define what sets your company and
its expertise apart from the competition.
| | 01:11 |
To start the process, you need to define
where you think your company's strengths
| | 01:15 |
lie in terms of expertise.
Our example company, Kinetico, excels at
| | 01:21 |
green energy solutions, with a particular
focus on solar energy.
| | 01:26 |
Because this is where the expertise is,
this should be the niche focus of the blog.
| | 01:31 |
The next step is to research your
competition.
| | 01:36 |
Do they have a blog or social media
presence?
| | 01:39 |
What are they talking about, are they
providing valuable information about the industry?
| | 01:44 |
What are they not talking about?
For Kinetico, it may turn out that rather
| | 01:51 |
than sharing information about solar
energy itself, something all the
| | 01:55 |
competitors are doing.
The niche lies in the data Kinetico has
| | 01:59 |
collected over the years about how solar
energy has improved the overall
| | 02:04 |
productivity of their clients.
Or, how it has changed their public or
| | 02:08 |
internal perceptions.
In that case, the niche would be how to
| | 02:13 |
improve overall business performance and
business perceptions through the use of
| | 02:17 |
green technologies.
Now, you need to search the web to see
| | 02:22 |
who else is sharing information about the
same niche.
| | 02:25 |
If there is lots of information out there
already, you need to refine or re-define
| | 02:31 |
your niche and do new searches.
In the end, you'll have a clearly defined
| | 02:37 |
area of expertise that you can excel at
without having too much competition.
| | 02:43 |
With a niche defined, you can move on to
define key topics.
| | 02:48 |
Here, I would urge you to pick no more
than six topics or categories to be addressed.
| | 02:54 |
This will further define your content
production and give structure to the blog.
| | 03:00 |
To refine these key topics you can use
tools like the Google ad words keywords
| | 03:05 |
tool, which shows you what type of
keywords or phrases people are searching
| | 03:09 |
for in Google.
For Konetico, these topics can be solar
| | 03:13 |
saving, green initiatives, public
awareness, education and the like.
| | 03:21 |
When you defines these topics, mark them
down on the content card and assign them
| | 03:26 |
to a content manager.
| | 03:27 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Content formats and types| 00:00 |
Before you start producing content it's
important to consider, what content
| | 00:04 |
formats and what types of content you
want to publish on the web.
| | 00:09 |
Let's look at formats first.
Though the web is text based you can also
| | 00:15 |
publish images, videos, and audio on the
web with great success.
| | 00:20 |
Making a decision about what formats you
want to publish, both at launch, and also
| | 00:25 |
down the road, will make the planning and
set up of the blog easier.
| | 00:28 |
And will also allow you to allocate the
necessary funds to make each content
| | 00:33 |
format successful.
The most basic content format is text and
| | 00:38 |
it's also the easiest format to produce.
Because the web is text based all you
| | 00:43 |
have to do is publish the text and it
will be found, indexed, shared, and
| | 00:48 |
spread throughout the web.
Of course, you can tweak your text to be
| | 00:52 |
better indexed, more easily shared, and
more compelling to the visitor.
| | 00:56 |
But the overall production of text is
straightforward.
| | 01:02 |
Images have always been important on the
web, and continue to be so.
| | 01:06 |
By using images strategically in your
content, either on their own, in a
| | 01:11 |
gallery, or as illustration elements in
your posts, you'll increase the value of
| | 01:16 |
your content.
Just remember that when you publish
| | 01:20 |
images on the web, you have to have a
license to publish them.
| | 01:23 |
And apply the correct title and alternate
description tags to the images so they
| | 01:28 |
are indexed properly.
We'll address images in more detail later
| | 01:32 |
in this course.
Video is quickly becoming as important as
| | 01:37 |
text on the web and for good reason.
Properly produced and informative video
| | 01:42 |
content is easier to digest than text in
images.
| | 01:46 |
And requires less work on the part of the
viewer.
| | 01:49 |
The downside to video is that it's hard
to index, because the Web doesn't really
| | 01:54 |
understand the content in a video file.
If you want to make videos part of your
| | 01:59 |
content strategy, you need to allocate
funds for proper video production,
| | 02:03 |
including proper audio equipment and
editing.
| | 02:07 |
And you also need to consider
transcribing all your videos into text to
| | 02:11 |
be published alongside your videos for
better indexing.
| | 02:15 |
We'll address videos in more detail later
in this course.
| | 02:19 |
Audio has been around on the web for a
long time.
| | 02:22 |
And it's having a resurgence today thanks
to the new sharing platforms.
| | 02:27 |
Depending on the type of business your
company is in, launching a podcast,
| | 02:30 |
essentially a downloadable radio show on
the web can be beneficial.
| | 02:36 |
However, like video, audio files require
production funds and transcription to be
| | 02:42 |
the most effective.
So I would only prioritize this content
| | 02:46 |
format if it is directly related to your
product.
| | 02:51 |
The content card shows you the different
content formats.
| | 02:54 |
Check off the options you wish to focus
on.
| | 02:58 |
With your formats defined the next step
is to decide what types of content you
| | 03:02 |
want to produce.
Different types of content have different
| | 03:06 |
impacts and can reach different goals and
audiences.
| | 03:10 |
I recommend on focusing on one or two
types at the onset and refine the
| | 03:14 |
strategy and then implement more types
down the road when the blog is well established.
| | 03:21 |
Let's look at some common content types.
The most common content type on a
| | 03:26 |
business blog is the news item.
Which just like the name suggests, is
| | 03:30 |
communication about news and events in
the company.
| | 03:34 |
While this may be interesting for
stakeholders and customers waiting from
| | 03:38 |
your products.
The news content type has little social
| | 03:42 |
and interactive value.
To get your customers and the general
| | 03:45 |
public engaged, other types of content
can have more of an impact.
| | 03:50 |
Q and A posts, tips and tricks,
tutorials, and discussion pieces tend to
| | 03:55 |
get shared more, and also generate
discussion and contribution.
| | 03:59 |
And if you really want to start a
discussion and position yourself in a debate.
| | 04:04 |
Opinion pieces can be effective as long
as the opinions are in line with the
| | 04:09 |
company goals and philosophy.
My recommendation is to start with news
| | 04:14 |
items and one or two of the active types,
tips and tricks, tutorials or discussion.
| | 04:21 |
This way you'll be able to share news
about the company and also provide
| | 04:25 |
content the visitor will want to interact
with and will find useful and sharable.
| | 04:29 |
Check off the content types you want to
focus on, on the content card.
| | 04:36 |
Once these types are well established and
the blog has some traction.
| | 04:39 |
You can allocate resources to start
publishing more content formats and more
| | 04:44 |
content types.
| | 04:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Recruiting contributors| 00:00 |
Depending on the content strategy and how
the business blog will be structured, you
| | 00:05 |
need to have one or more people actively
creating content for the blog.
| | 00:10 |
These people are referred to as
contributers.
| | 00:14 |
One common challenge in running a
business blog is to find the right people
| | 00:18 |
to be contributers and also get them to
actively contribute.
| | 00:22 |
The key to creating contributors is
ownership and engagements.
| | 00:26 |
Make the contributors take ownership of
their content on the blog and feel like
| | 00:31 |
their contributions are part of the work
identity.
| | 00:34 |
You should also engage with the
contributors to encourage further contributions.
| | 00:40 |
In your company there will be staffers
who are experts in their field and who
| | 00:44 |
love to share their expertise.
These staffers are prime contributor
| | 00:48 |
material and they are usually easy to
convince to become contributors.
| | 00:53 |
Leverage their skills and talents and
involve them in the planning process of
| | 00:57 |
the blog in particular in outlining the
niche and key topics.
| | 01:02 |
And ask for their input on what they
think would be good content to be shared
| | 01:06 |
on the blog.
By making them part of the team and
| | 01:09 |
giving them a say in what content they
should produce, they'll be more invested
| | 01:14 |
in the end product.
They can tell the public about what they
| | 01:17 |
do and also educate the public and the
rest of the company.
| | 01:21 |
Identify a small group of key contributes
distributed across the company and
| | 01:26 |
profile them in a big way on the bog.
Give them bio pages and columns so they
| | 01:32 |
can drag people to their own content and
encourage contributors to share their
| | 01:36 |
content with co workers and friends and
business contacts.
| | 01:41 |
Once these key contributors are in place
and actively contributing, encourage them
| | 01:46 |
to enlist other members of the staff to
contribute as well.
| | 01:49 |
The key contributors can take on the role
of mentors to the rest of the staff
| | 01:54 |
guiding them through the process of
sharing their know how in an easily
| | 01:58 |
digestible way.
That way you get more staff interaction
| | 02:02 |
and avoid a situation where staffers feel
left out.
| | 02:06 |
By employing this strategy, you can also
produce a welcome by product, that the
| | 02:11 |
executives of your company will see as a
positive.
| | 02:14 |
And that may help solidify the importance
of the blog in the eyes of management.
| | 02:19 |
Collaborative contribution to the blog
will encourage collaboration and
| | 02:23 |
communication within the company.
And train the employees to become better communicators.
| | 02:29 |
In this way, the blog can help the
employees of the company know each other,
| | 02:33 |
better understand each other's roles.
And get a better understanding for how
| | 02:38 |
the company works.
And that, my friend, is a win on all fronts.
| | 02:42 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating content| 00:00 |
A common question when people launch a
new blog is what do I write about?
| | 00:05 |
As I've alluded to throughout this
course, the answer to that question is
| | 00:09 |
write about what you know.
This is easier for a business blog than
| | 00:13 |
it is for a personal blogger because the
business has a specific topic and
| | 00:17 |
targeted audience.
And as you've been following along in
| | 00:20 |
this course, you've carved out a pretty
clear path for the contributors to go
| | 00:25 |
down when producing content.
Even so inspiration can sometimes be hard
| | 00:29 |
to find especially if the business you're
in concerns a relatively dry topic that
| | 00:35 |
the general public feels is boring.
Fortunately there are ways to get over
| | 00:40 |
the inspiration hurdle.
To get you started let me share with you
| | 00:44 |
some seeds of inspiration.
Answer question, all businesses get
| | 00:49 |
questions from customers both existing
and perspective.
| | 00:53 |
Each of these questions and their answers
can become a blog post.
| | 00:57 |
This solves two problems in one.
You get a blog post that at least one
| | 01:01 |
person will read.
And you published a answer on the web so
| | 01:06 |
that the next person who has the same
question will find it on your blog.
| | 01:11 |
Ask questions.
Reach out to existing and perspective
| | 01:15 |
customers and ask them what they want to
know more about.
| | 01:18 |
This is a great way to establish a list
of possible future blog posts and it also
| | 01:23 |
gives you a great indication of what the
company needs to put out more information about.
| | 01:28 |
And where the current communication
strategy is failing.
| | 01:32 |
Presented as a query about future blog
content rather than a survey about the
| | 01:37 |
customer, you're also more likely to get
responses.
| | 01:40 |
You can even sweeten the deal by offering
to include a byline about the person
| | 01:45 |
asking the question and their businesses
in the resulting blog post.
| | 01:49 |
Write tips, tricks and tutorials if your
business sells a product or service that
| | 01:55 |
the customer will use and need training
on.
| | 01:57 |
Publish tips, tricks and tutorials on how
to use the products.
| | 02:02 |
And not just how the customers will use
it.
| | 02:04 |
Publish tutorials about how your company
uses the product and technologies.
| | 02:09 |
The best way to do this is to ask the
staffers to write tutorials about how
| | 02:13 |
they do things as if they were writing it
to themselves for later reference.
| | 02:17 |
Because this often results in more detail
and practical instructions.
| | 02:23 |
These types of tutorials are popular on
the web and can be a great source of visitors.
| | 02:27 |
This is also a good topic to create video
content especially if the turorials focus
| | 02:33 |
on computer software comment on news
items.
| | 02:38 |
If there's a hot topic on the news or in
social media that relates to your company
| | 02:42 |
or its products or services jump on it
immediately.
| | 02:46 |
Issue statements, opinions, perspective
and facts that contribute to the
| | 02:52 |
conversation while at the same time
subtlety pointing to the company
| | 02:55 |
expertise in the field.
Here it's important to remember that
| | 02:59 |
these are not puff or marketing pieces
about your company but rather actually
| | 03:04 |
contributions and insights to the debate.
If they're valuable people will think
| | 03:09 |
positively about the company by
association so no marketing pitch is necessary.
| | 03:15 |
Quote others and contribute your own
view.
| | 03:18 |
Quoting other blogs and online sources
with proper attribution and links and
| | 03:24 |
then commenting on their information can
be both simple and effective.
| | 03:28 |
You can even add facts, figures,
perspective or insight to them.
| | 03:33 |
The originator of the content will also
become aware of your presence and be
| | 03:37 |
encouraged to interact with your blog.
You can also leave comments on the
| | 03:41 |
original blog post or source to show
you're actively taking part in the
| | 03:46 |
conversation and not simply hijacking it.
Creating strategies for coming up with
| | 03:51 |
new content is simply a matter of
thinking about what you know and how you
| | 03:56 |
can share that with others.
By using these seeds of inspiration, you
| | 04:00 |
should be able to produce a wealth of
future blog posts and other content
| | 04:05 |
without getting frustrated that there's
nothing to write about.
| | 04:07 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using images| 00:00 |
Images and graphics can be used for
everything from illustrations to eye
| | 00:04 |
candy in a blog.
They can even be the main content of a
| | 00:08 |
post or be part of a gallery.
When using images correctly, they can
| | 00:12 |
become an important part of your blog and
a reason for people to visit your blog.
| | 00:18 |
Let's first take a step back and look at
images on the web.
| | 00:22 |
If you look at the code of a web page,
you'll see that images are actually just
| | 00:26 |
links that are replaced by images by the
browser.
| | 00:30 |
That's why they're referred to as
replaced elements.
| | 00:33 |
You place a link to an image in your code
in the right way, and the browser will
| | 00:37 |
find the image and place it on the page.
That means you can technically take any
| | 00:44 |
image from anywhere on the web and
display it on your site.
| | 00:48 |
I say technically because, in real life,
this is something you should never do.
| | 00:53 |
So, let's answer the main question first.
What images can you use on your blog?
| | 00:59 |
The answer is you can use your own
images.
| | 01:02 |
Ones you or your staff have taken, or
ones taken by a photographer hired by
| | 01:06 |
your company.
And you can use images you have a license
| | 01:10 |
to use.
Any other image is off limits and should
| | 01:15 |
not be used.
You can get licensed images from many locations.
| | 01:19 |
Stock image companies like Getty and
iStock Photo sell image licenses for websites.
| | 01:25 |
Photo sharing sites such as Flickr have
images released under varying creative
| | 01:30 |
commons licenses.
Creative commons materials can be used
| | 01:34 |
only under the conditions of the specific
variance of the creative commons license.
| | 01:40 |
For a business blog, the best practice
scenario is to only use images either
| | 01:45 |
taken by or for the company.
Once you have an image, you can add it
| | 01:51 |
into your blog in a variety of ways.
We won't get into exactly where you
| | 01:56 |
should place your images in your content.
Instead, we'll look at how to properly
| | 02:01 |
add them into your content and make sure
they get indexed and shared.
| | 02:06 |
When you add an image to a blog post, you
should always apply an image title, used
| | 02:10 |
mainly to keep track of the image within
the blogging application.
| | 02:14 |
An alternate description describing the
contents of the image for search engines
| | 02:19 |
and browsers that don't display images.
And when necessary, a caption with
| | 02:24 |
photographer information, links and other
valuable information.
| | 02:28 |
This ensures that image is indexed by
search engines.
| | 02:31 |
And that the information in the image is
communicated to the visitor even if the
| | 02:36 |
image is not displayed.
The alternate description of an image
| | 02:41 |
should be applied following these
standards.
| | 02:44 |
If the image contains information, the
text should describe the image.
| | 02:49 |
If the image is a link, the text should
describe the target of the link.
| | 02:54 |
And if the image is for decoration and
has no informational value, the alt
| | 03:00 |
attribute should be left empty.
The images and videos card has
| | 03:04 |
information about proper image mark up
and how to use the alt tag for quick reference.
| | 03:09 |
You should also consider setting the most
important or descriptive image as the
| | 03:14 |
featured image of the post.
This image will be displayed along side
| | 03:19 |
the title and description of the post in
search engine results, and when it's
| | 03:23 |
shared on social media networks.
Using images in a blog post the right way
| | 03:29 |
can appear tedious at first.
But once a system is put in place, it
| | 03:33 |
becomes easy and the impact of a great
image is well worth the effort.
| | 03:38 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using video| 00:00 |
Video is quickly becoming as important as
text on the web and with good reason.
| | 00:06 |
Videos are easy to digest and take less
effort to watch than reading an article.
| | 00:11 |
They can also be entertaining and
informative in a way no written article can.
| | 00:16 |
On the downside, videos are expensive to
produce, and it's challenging to make
| | 00:21 |
them appealing to the audience.
But, if you have the resources and the
| | 00:25 |
talent to make videos work.
They can easily become the most important
| | 00:29 |
marketing and communication asset in your
overall strategy.
| | 00:34 |
Unlike text and images publishing video
online requires specialized infrastructure.
| | 00:39 |
You can't simply put a video file on a
server and embed it on a page and be done
| | 00:44 |
with it.
Video files are large complex entities
| | 00:47 |
that require rebuts server technology and
the correct formats and players to work..
| | 00:53 |
And to add to the complication, we have a
meriot of platforms from web browsers, to
| | 00:58 |
tablets to smartphones.
All with their own, audio synchronizes
| | 01:02 |
and codices and players to take into
consideration.
| | 01:06 |
Combined, this is a perfect storm of
complexity.
| | 01:09 |
Fortunately, this is not something we
have to worry about, because others have
| | 01:14 |
done all the work for us.
Whether you want your videos to be public
| | 01:19 |
and shareable or private and restricted,
there's services that will do that either
| | 01:24 |
for free or for a small fee.
If you want to go the free route, and
| | 01:29 |
you're publishing videos mainly to reach
as many as possible, YouTube is a great service.
| | 01:35 |
You get the widest reach and many younger
people actually use YouTube as a search
| | 01:40 |
engine, so you get an added benefit that
way.
| | 01:43 |
On the downside YouTube is littered with
ads and links to other videos from other people.
| | 01:48 |
And YouTube comments need to be monitored
closely, but all this can be managed to a degree.
| | 01:55 |
If share ability and viral distribution
is what you want, YouTube is the place to be.
| | 02:02 |
If you want to control your video, not
have any advertising, or only have
| | 02:06 |
advertising you control, or you want to
restrict access to only select viewers.
| | 02:12 |
There are plenty of other options
available.
| | 02:15 |
Worth mentioning is VideoPress, Viddler,
and BrightCove.
| | 02:20 |
All these are for paid video hosting
providers that give you complete control
| | 02:24 |
of the content.
The downside is that these videos do not
| | 02:28 |
distribute as easily and are less likely
to give you the potential for viral distribution.
| | 02:34 |
Regardless of the platform you use, when
you publish a video online you have to
| | 02:39 |
keep a few things in mind.
Always provide a descriptive video title
| | 02:44 |
to ensure people find the video when
they're looking for content on the
| | 02:48 |
subject matter.
Consider providing a full text transcript
| | 02:52 |
of each video in the video description,
and also in the blog post you embed the
| | 02:57 |
video in.
This will make it easier for search
| | 03:00 |
engines to find the videos.
If you're using YouTube or Vimeo, add
| | 03:05 |
tags and proper descriptions to ensure
people find your videos, and that they're
| | 03:09 |
indexed properly.
Moderate comments, or turn them off altogether.
| | 03:14 |
You do not want the underbelly of YouTube
to show up on any page with your company
| | 03:20 |
name on it.
And finally, remember that as with
| | 03:24 |
images, you need to own or have a license
to use any video, images or music
| | 03:30 |
featured in your videos.
The images and videos card has a quick
| | 03:35 |
reference guide to how to get your videos
indexed on search engines.
| | 03:39 |
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|
6. ImplementationDesigning the blog| 00:00 |
You've now come to the implementation
stage.
| | 00:03 |
This is where all you've done so far
comes together and you make decisions on
| | 00:08 |
how to build the blog itself.
One important element to consider when
| | 00:12 |
launching a business blog is how to make
the blog fit in with the overall and
| | 00:17 |
online visual identity of the company.
When a visitor lands on the blog, she
| | 00:23 |
should immediately recognize it as part
of and belonging to the company.
| | 00:28 |
This can be done through the inclusion of
logos, colors and fonts and can also be
| | 00:33 |
done through layouts and customization.
Depending on how much your company is
| | 00:38 |
willing to invest in the blog and its
design, there's several levels of
| | 00:42 |
customization that can be done.
Of course, the preferred approach is a
| | 00:46 |
fully customized blog that looks and
feels exactly like the company website,
| | 00:50 |
and is integrated seamlessly.
When taking this approach, it's important
| | 00:55 |
to keep in mind that the nature of a blog
is quite different from a normal business website.
| | 01:00 |
So you have to design around elements in
the blog that don't currently exist in
| | 01:05 |
the website.
In other words, some redesigning is
| | 01:08 |
required even if you aim to match the
blog to the company website.
| | 01:13 |
If your company has a style guide this
document should be the basis of the blog design.
| | 01:19 |
A redesign of this magnitude isn't always
realistic.
| | 01:22 |
At least not in the beginning stages of
the blogging project.
| | 01:26 |
Even so, bringing in a designer,
specializing in business blog design and
| | 01:31 |
your chosen blogging platform is a sound
investment.
| | 01:35 |
If your working on a shoe string budget.
You can still ensure the visual identity
| | 01:40 |
is carried over by following some basic
guidelines and thinking about your
| | 01:44 |
content in a smart way.
The most important element that must be
| | 01:48 |
included in the blog design is the
company logo and name.
| | 01:52 |
This should be appended with the word
blog or some other signifier to make it
| | 01:56 |
clear the visitor is now on the blog and
not the main website.
| | 02:01 |
Next, you must provide a link or links to
the main website, preferably in the main menu.
| | 02:07 |
A common solution is to add a button for
the blog on the main menu of the main
| | 02:12 |
website and then copy elements of that
menu over to the blog.
| | 02:17 |
That means that the majority of menu
items on the blog will be pointing to the
| | 02:20 |
main website so you have to get creative
with placement of blog specific menu items.
| | 02:26 |
This can be solved with careful
planning...
| | 02:29 |
Another option is to have 2 menus.
One for the main website and a second one
| | 02:34 |
that only shows up on blog pages.
This ensures separation between 2
| | 02:39 |
elements but its also more complicated to
implement.
| | 02:43 |
If your company identity includes key
colors or color schemes, incorporate them
| | 02:48 |
in the blog as well.
That goes for background colors,
| | 02:52 |
separator colors, link colors and so on.
A good place to use key colors in a blog
| | 02:58 |
is in the background of layout elements
like the header, side bar, and footer.
| | 03:02 |
But you can also include them in other
ways.
| | 03:05 |
The key here again is to be creative.
Visual identity can also be attributed
| | 03:11 |
through the use of fonts and font
layouts.
| | 03:13 |
So make an effort to match the font
family, font size, font kerning and line
| | 03:19 |
spacing between the company website and
the blog.
| | 03:23 |
In addition to designing the blog to
share a visual identity with the main
| | 03:26 |
website and the company.
You also have to consider how to
| | 03:30 |
incorporate blog-specific elements in a
graceful manner.
| | 03:34 |
Chief among these elements are social
sharing buttons and comments.
| | 03:38 |
There are many options available here.
But for a business blog, it's important
| | 03:42 |
to use clean, unobtrusive, and
professional-looking elements and use
| | 03:46 |
them sparingly.
Finally, all blogs and websites published
| | 03:51 |
on the web today should be mobile
friendly.
| | 03:53 |
That means ensuring that the blog is
responsive or that there is a mobile
| | 03:58 |
option built in.
Most blogging platforms have both
| | 04:01 |
responsive templates and mobile options
available.
| | 04:04 |
And they can usually be configured to fit
with your visual identity.
| | 04:08 |
(INAUDIBLE).
The easiest way to ensure your blog is
| | 04:10 |
mobile ready is to test it on mobile
devices like tablets and smart phones.
| | 04:15 |
And ensuring the blog is easy to use
across these devices.
| | 04:20 |
If not, you need to change your settings,
or spend more time with the design to
| | 04:24 |
make it work properly.
| | 04:25 |
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| Preparing to publish the blog| 00:00 |
With goals and strategies in place,
technologies picked out, content creators
| | 00:05 |
lined up.
And the design completed you have
| | 00:08 |
everything you need to start the job of
setting up and publishing the blog.
| | 00:13 |
To get you up and on your way, I have
some tips to make the process easier.
| | 00:18 |
First off, create a lot of content before
you publish the blog.
| | 00:23 |
I recommend as much as 50 posts to be
separated into two groups of 25.
| | 00:29 |
One for back dated posts, one for future
scheduled posts.
| | 00:34 |
Before you make the blog public, publish
the 25 backdated posts and spread them
| | 00:39 |
over a reasonable time period.
Anywhere from three to six months or more.
| | 00:44 |
If you have an existing blog or online
magazine and you want to move the content
| | 00:49 |
over to the new blog make sure to
backdate any published material to the
| | 00:54 |
original published date.
This way when visitors come to your site
| | 00:59 |
there is an archive of content they can
navigate through.
| | 01:03 |
A blog with only a few entries is
unimpressive and gives a bad impression.
| | 01:08 |
You might argue that backdating blog
posts is insincere.
| | 01:12 |
Bu I'd counter that by saying you are
merely backdating the posts to ensure
| | 01:16 |
that they are easier to digest for the
visitor.
| | 01:19 |
A large number of posts published on the
same day is confusing for the visitor,
| | 01:24 |
and makes for poor navigation.
The 25 future scheduled posts should also
| | 01:30 |
be entered into the system and scheduled
to be released on certain days and times.
| | 01:36 |
That way even if you leave the blog to
run on its own, new content will be
| | 01:41 |
published for a period of time after
launch.
| | 01:44 |
This step is important to ensure you
don't launch a blog only to have no
| | 01:49 |
content on it.
By preparing and scheduling content, you
| | 01:53 |
give yourself and the content team time
to get used to the new situation of
| | 01:57 |
having to publish content on an ongoing
basis.
| | 02:00 |
I also recommend having 10 to 15 polls in
the system that are stored as drafts.
| | 02:07 |
These polls are to be used as fall backs
for when no new content is available.
| | 02:12 |
This is a safety valve to ensure
continuous publication even when things
| | 02:16 |
are getting in the way of blogging.
Before setting a day for the launch of
| | 02:21 |
the blog set aside time for extensive
user testing.
| | 02:26 |
Make the blog public to the staff in your
company and have them test the site and
| | 02:30 |
use all its functions.
By having people outside the blogging
| | 02:34 |
staff testing the blog, you'll be alerted
to anything that's not as it should be
| | 02:39 |
from confusing navigation to buttons.
And links that don't work and these can
| | 02:44 |
be addressed before the launch.
In preparation for the launch, contact
| | 02:49 |
key stakeholders and industry bloggers
and let them know that the blog is going
| | 02:53 |
to go online shortly.
You also give them restricted access to
| | 02:58 |
the blog ahead of time to peak their
interest.
| | 03:01 |
Set the blog up in its final location
well ahead of the launch to ensure all
| | 03:06 |
assets work properly.
To avoid anyone accidentally visiting the
| | 03:10 |
blog ahead of time, you can employ a
maintenance mole plug in or module that
| | 03:15 |
hides it for the outside world.
And finally, launch the blog in the
| | 03:20 |
middle of the night, several hours before
the official launch time.
| | 03:24 |
This gives you time to fix any last
minute issues and deal with them without
| | 03:29 |
having eager visitors trying to use the
blog if something goes wrong.
| | 03:34 |
When launching a blog for a business, you
have to assume some things will go wrong.
| | 03:39 |
Being prepared with existing content,
extensive beta testing, and a preemptive
| | 03:45 |
launch, you can minimize the effect of
any issues when the blog goes live to the web.
| | 03:50 |
The implementation card has a checklist
with all these steps that you can use as
| | 03:55 |
you prepare for the blog launch.
Only when all items are checked are you
| | 04:00 |
ready to take your blog live to the web.
| | 04:02 |
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| Creating a blogging schedule| 00:00 |
One of the reasons why blogs are so
effective as marketing tools and why
| | 00:04 |
search engines like them so much is
because they constantly have new content.
| | 00:09 |
That also means if your blog is not
publishing new content on an ongoing
| | 00:13 |
basis its level of interest will drop and
drop quickly...
| | 00:17 |
One of the key elements of professional
blogging.
| | 00:20 |
And that's what a business blog is all
about.
| | 00:23 |
Is to publish content on a schedule.
If content is published on a schedule,,
| | 00:28 |
visitors and search engines alike, will
come to expect new content and interest
| | 00:33 |
will rise accordingly.
Just think of it in newspaper terms.
| | 00:37 |
If a newspaper came out only
sporadically, and at random times, would
| | 00:42 |
you go through the trouble of picking up
a copy?
| | 00:45 |
Before the blog is launched, sit down
with the content team and contributors
| | 00:49 |
and work out a schedule.
The schedule should have two levels.
| | 00:54 |
Thematic days and contributors.
To make the process of planning content
| | 00:59 |
for the blog easier thematic days should
be defined and set.
| | 01:03 |
As an example you can say that every
Wednesday the blog will publish a Q and A
| | 01:08 |
article and every Friday the blog will
publish a tutorial...
| | 01:12 |
That way the content team will be able to
plan content for future weeks and the
| | 01:17 |
visitors will know to come back on
certain days for new content.
| | 01:21 |
At launch the blog should not have more
than two predefined days.
| | 01:24 |
Setting up thematic days doesn't mean you
can only public content on those days...
| | 01:31 |
Or that the content must fall under those
themes.
| | 01:34 |
Quite the contrary, these days are
buffers to ensure content is being produced.
| | 01:40 |
They should be intersperesed with other
content whenever it is available.
| | 01:44 |
That said, I would recommend restricting
publishing on the blog to, at most, one
| | 01:50 |
time per day for the first several
months.
| | 01:52 |
Blogging fatigue will kick in at some
point.
| | 01:56 |
And if the publishing schedule is too
aggressive off the top.
| | 01:59 |
That fatigue will kick in long before the
blog has the foot hold it needs both
| | 02:04 |
internally and in the public eye.
With thematic days to find you should
| | 02:09 |
also make a schedule for the
contributors.
| | 02:11 |
For each of the thematic days in the next
several months, a contributor should be
| | 02:15 |
assigned and a topic or title should be
defined.
| | 02:19 |
THat way everyone involved knows what the
responsibilities and deadlines are and
| | 02:24 |
what is coming down the pipeline...
Any posts that fall outside of the
| | 02:28 |
thematic days should also be scheduled
and assigned properly.
| | 02:31 |
To ensure publishing distribution and
that the content team has bandwidth to
| | 02:36 |
handle the incoming content.
To provide a clear overview of what is
| | 02:40 |
happening with the blog, it's a good idea
to create a shared calendar.
| | 02:44 |
That all involved parties have access to.
That way every one can see what is planned.
| | 02:50 |
What is currently in the works and when
new content will be published.
| | 02:54 |
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| Social interaction| 00:00 |
Getting your blog post shared on social
media is a great way of bringing in new
| | 00:05 |
readers and starting a conversation about
your company and your brand.
| | 00:09 |
To make this happen you have to ensure
your content is sharable and also worth sharing.
| | 00:15 |
The trick is to customize the message to
the medium.
| | 00:19 |
Let's take a look at some best practices
on how to get your content out to social
| | 00:23 |
media once it's published.
And also how to keep the conversation
| | 00:27 |
going and encourage further sharing.
Assuming your company has social media
| | 00:32 |
channels, like a Twitter handle, a
Facebook page and a Google Plus page set
| | 00:37 |
up, the first thing you should do when
publishing a new post is push that post
| | 00:42 |
out through these channels.
The temptation here is to set up an
| | 00:46 |
automated system that blasts the posts
out to all the channels at once using a
| | 00:50 |
box message.
But this is not an effective strategy.
| | 00:54 |
Twitter, Facebook and Google plus and
other social media channels are all very
| | 00:59 |
different and all have their own
languages.
| | 01:03 |
Customizing the message for each channel
will make a big difference in how people
| | 01:07 |
interact with it.
For Twitter, the key is to say something
| | 01:11 |
that will catch people's interest and
also encourage them to share or retweet
| | 01:16 |
the message.
Because twitter only gives you 140
| | 01:20 |
characters and your URL will take up a
good portion of these it's important to
| | 01:24 |
be concise, descriptive and appealing.
That usually means reforming the post
| | 01:30 |
title into a question or conversational
statement.
| | 01:34 |
While something like did you know solar
energy can make your company cool?
| | 01:38 |
Read more at link, can sound a bit hokey.
It's far more effective than simply
| | 01:44 |
saying new post and then the title of the
post.
| | 01:47 |
For Facebook and Google plus a longer
conversational post is to be preferred.
| | 01:53 |
When posting the link, add some extra
information or perspective and provide a
| | 01:57 |
brief summary of the post without giving
away all the details.
| | 02:01 |
The idea here is to catch the reader's
interest in an environment where people
| | 02:06 |
expect you to be conversational and then
drive them to the blog for more detailed analysis.
| | 02:13 |
What's interesting about Facebook and
Google Plus is that many people don't
| | 02:17 |
actually read articles they like Plus 1
or share.
| | 02:21 |
They just read the posted self along with
the description and then go hey I think
| | 02:26 |
this is cool so I'm going to share it.
This means even if the first person who
| | 02:31 |
sees your article does not read it, she
might share it with some friends who will.
| | 02:37 |
On Facebook and Google plus you can also
use images to further bolster the
| | 02:42 |
attention your polls will get.
This requires a bit of planning and a
| | 02:46 |
great picture, usually with some text on
it.
| | 02:49 |
It can be extremely effective.
In this scenario you make the image the
| | 02:53 |
focal point with a descriptive text
pointing to the article in the image description.
| | 02:59 |
If the image is appealing it is likely to
be shared even if people don't know
| | 03:03 |
there's a link appended to it.
And the more shares you get the higher
| | 03:07 |
the likelihood of someone clicking on the
link and going to your blog.
| | 03:12 |
The best combination here is to mix
regular link posts and image link posts
| | 03:17 |
in equal measure.
For Twitter, it can also be a good idea
| | 03:21 |
to post the links several times
throughout the day or the week to reach
| | 03:25 |
more people.
This is also true for Facebook and Google
| | 03:29 |
plus but on a longer time scale.
Once the polls is shared its important to
| | 03:35 |
interact with anyone commenting or
sharing on the polls to show your making
| | 03:39 |
them part of the conversation.
| | 03:41 |
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|
ConclusionGoing live and beyond| 00:00 |
Working your way through this course,
you've made decisions and laid out a plan
| | 00:04 |
of action for the creation of a blog for
your business.
| | 00:08 |
Now is time to take what you've learned
and put it into action.
| | 00:12 |
To make this process as easy as possible,
I've created a curated playlist with
| | 00:17 |
courses that will take you through these
next steps.
| | 00:20 |
The courses include essential training on
platforms like Wordpress Drupal and Joomla.
| | 00:26 |
Analytics training with Google Analytics
and AdWords.
| | 00:30 |
Essential training and business focus
courses on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus
| | 00:35 |
and other social media services.
Courses on style guides and brand
| | 00:40 |
identity, writing Fundamentals.
And finally, how to manage small projects
| | 00:45 |
and teams combined.
These courses will give you and your team
| | 00:50 |
a solid foundation to stand on when
setting up, publishing, and managing a
| | 00:54 |
blog for your business.
And no, you don't have to watch them all
| | 00:58 |
right away.
Use this course and the playlist as a reference.
| | 01:03 |
Finally, remember to do a full revisit of
the blog every year, to ensure you are on
| | 01:09 |
track and using the right tools.
Now, it's your turn to get blogging for
| | 01:14 |
your business.
| | 01:15 |
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